My Cup of Tea

I was sipping my usual cup of tea today and thought of this Siemens Run form I got from an employee meeting recently. When I first landed in Malaysia a few weeks back, I thought being a German in Siemens would not be quite a different experience – it is after all a very German company I thought. But I have to say a Siemens event in Malaysia does tantalize one’s palette in its own local flavor.

Speaking of, If I may say, Malaysians are really quite indulgent, especially when it comes to food!For me it was rather strange to have noodles and rice for breakfast (in Germany we would have this for lunch or for dinner). Further, the dishes over here are spicy, quite spicy, very spicy, even spicier or deadly spicy! I really wonder if I would get used to this during the following months? I really fell in love with these roti-things and I also discovered this green cake; I learnt that it’s a special Malay plant people also use to make green drinks. This flavor was something delicious that even made me thinking of bringing one of these plants back home. Seems that a big part of life in this country is about food and quite important for people… I also noticed that a bulk of people can swarm the buffet table all at one time. I’m not sure if this is normal but in Germany, overtaking a buffet line can mean that you are looking for trouble!

In opposite to most of my fellow countrymen, the Malaysian people seem very helpful and yet a little invasive, in quite a warm and friendly way. I was quite astonished of this girl who went up to me and asked me from which country I’m from, what’s it like in Germany, who I like in Malaysia… she had a lot of questions for me and my background, I started to feel like a criminal. But I always remind myself that this is part of the Malaysian hospitality, to show interest in the foreigner’s life. Being a stranger among strangers is another experience for me. Of course people can tell I am a stranger because of my European looking. For me they are strangers vice versa, so I really feel lost sometimes. But I like the variety over here, so many different cultures! I am quite excited every day to have a new little or big thing to discover! I would like to know how to wrap a sari on for example and I already learned what halal means…

The buildings here are so cold, I nearly freezed the whole time because of the air conditioning. I felt like sitting in the fridge! And outside you just melt away because of the heat! Sometimes I am so scared about something in my back, but the following second I have to discover that it’s just a drop of sweat running down my back! These extremes are so hard for me to get used to!

And information on Siemens Run kept repeating itself throughout the event, like a blinking billboard really. Being the self proclaimed dreamer like me, I started to play a picture of myself, gearing up for a 10KM run. And there was also me in the park practicing for a marathon with the wind in my face, sweat on my skin, just me and the path, birds chirping above my head – telling me it is rather too early in the morning to get out of bed! Weeks it has been since I got the Siemens Run form. And as obsurd as the idea may seem of me running at 8 on a lazy Sunday morning, the form is still sitting on the table, staring at me in a rather optimistic yellow color. This is something I would probably not give a second thought to do in Germany, it’s undoubtedly not my cup of tea! Yet doing new, obsurd things than usual seems to be so much easier in another country far away from all the things I'm used to. If you want to do something, you have to do it right. So perhaps for now, I’ll just leave the form on the table for awhile longer, while I continue to sip my tea.

Only a short time after I started my internship over here we had an employee event at the Sime Darby Convention Center. It was a very interesting event with a lot of information on the company and I enjoyed to get to know a lot of colleagues and to discover a variety of foreign food. But the thing that captured me most on this day was the information on the Siemens Run which will take part on the 19th of July. I don't know what exactly happened to me, it was a very crazy idea that crept in (to) my mind... The picture of me running in this heat I'm not used to yet was unimaginable. But ... why not? I brought my sports shoes with me and I guess they really get bored in my wardrobe! And the picture in my head kept running... Me What a stupid idea, I tried running several years ago and I never found a way in there, it was just not my cup of tea! But I could smell a slight taste of challenge that attracted me... and the idea to do something I probably never would do at home in Germany!

http://www.siemens.com.my/siemensrun2009